Faux Roman Shade

With my yards and yards of newly acquired fabric, my brain is working overtime to find creative sewing projects. Here's an easy one I thought of yesterday.

Please excuse the some of the blurry pictures. I don't know what is going on with my camera. 

I started with fabric, muslin, and a piece of wood left over from the cabinet project.

I folded the fabric over twice to create a nice edge. I put the muslin down the middle in order to use it as a liner. I like to iron the edges to get nice folds and it helps with the sewing later on.

I folded all the pleats to create a faux roman shade effect.

Then, I sewed each pleat straight across making sure that it was covered by the fold hanging above it.

Finally, I made an opening at the top to slide the wooden piece through (fold fabric over and sew across).

I nailed it to the wall by rolling the extra fabric over the wooden piece and then nailing it to the wall underneath the curtain. 

I'll have to add that picture to this when I get home today. 

There you have it. Sound easy enough? Actually, making sure to have perfect folds was the hardest part. Add nails, a broken sewing machine needle (the last one!), a grouchy pms'ing girl, and you have a recipe for a breakdown and a fearful hubby.  

Brighten Our Boudoir: Part 4

I'm at the point now where I'm not embarrassed to show the progress in our master bedroom. It's really coming together in the most perfect way. The color is still a bit more blue than I expected, but it's growing on me. The hubby even said he'd be okay with me painting it again if that made me happy (so sweet.). Well, it's still there. I figured it'd be better to wait and accessorize before changing the color again. It's not so much that I don't like it; it's just not the color I wanted.

As you can see, I finally received my fabric!! Seven point six glorious yards of it.

The clean (doggie fur free) duvet was 20 clams over at IKEA.

The crewel pillow is only temp. I'm making two smaller ones in the same crewel instead.

There's the super large chair. Those monogram pillows will also be replaced. I'm thinking a little zebra print. I'm also considering mirrors instead of the framed art.

My new lamps arrived today! I love them!

What do you think? Any suggestions?

Oh, yeah. Who knew I was in style with the crewel? Apparently it's almost everywhere now. Check out what Eddie has to say about Crewel Intentions

It must be the water...

...or it could be that I just happen to be noticing every single preggers woman or newborn baby out there! I have a baby shower this Friday and next Saturday (yay for Mrs. B!) and there are like three teachers at school with babies on the way.

Whatever the reasons may be, babies and everything about them is just floating around. I really don't mind, especially when it comes to decorating adorable baby rooms. I saw these and just had to share. Who knows, maybe I'll be needing these for inspiration later on (okay, so a lot later on).

All images borrowed from Inspiration for Everyday Living

Rest your feet on my...coffee table?! Part 2

My thumbs and forefingers are killing me. What would you imagine I've been doing? Hmmm....playing the thumb cymbals perhaps? Or twisting knobs? Or...making buttons to create a beautifully tufted ottoman?!

As I sit on my couch with my feet resting on my coffee table turned coffee table + ottoman, I believe my achy fingers, thumbs and shoulder really appreciate the break. Man, I'm tired. Oh man, as I rested my head back on the couch, I can see two little spiderwebs hanging from the ceiling...ewww...excuse me while I rid my living room of these.

So, I accomplished what I envisioned. The hubby, as always, a little apprehensive and nervous about my endeavours into woodworking/home improvements is able to take a deep breath as everything turned out without any major breakdowns...from me. =)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I imaged creating a tufted ottoman-like top to replace the glass on my coffee table in order to cease the crazy foot-handling. That would be feet on the table.

Here were the steps that led to the amazing or at least interesting transformation.

Outline the shape of the table

Cut out the top with a jigsaw
I love that thing!


All cut out!

Sand the edges

Outline and cut out a piece that fits inside

Measure and mark where tufts will go

Spray with glue and cover with foam

Cover with a layer of batting and staple around the edges

Cover and staple with fabric

Add fabric covered buttons by threading through predrilled holes on the bottom. The hubby helped me with this by pushing the buttons all the way down into the foam as far as possible and I tied them on the bottom and secured them with buttons.

Paint the part that will fit inside the opening

Drill the bottom part onto the top. I used six screws around the edge.

Have a doggie sit on top just for fun

After all that work today; I think I deserve another day off.

They're Coming!

When I ordered the lamps for our bedroom it said they were on back order until mid May. I was willing to wait since they were such a great deal.

Today, I received an email that they have been shipped! Woo, I wait can't to get them.

Linden Street® Adjustable Bridge Wall Lamp from JCPenney

TGIF!

This week has felt incredibly long. Our schedule at work was all messed up because of the test we were administering. You'd think I would get to sit back and relax while they take the test, but instead I worked hard to catch up on my grading and prepare for a meeting. My brain hurts. 

I thought I'd try something different this week for the inspiration board. I took one of the images from my Pretty post this week and I tried to re-create the room on a budget. I selected "Carrie's" remodeled room from the movie Sex and the City.

Carrie's room

Sex and the City Remodel by Eskimobar on Polyvore.com

I tried to get as close as possible to the original room, but of course watched out for expensive items. 

If there's a room you'd like to have my re-create on a budget. I'd love to do so. 

Have a great weekend! I'll be spending mine crafting it up!

The Ubiquitous Ceramic Stool

You know you've seen it. Maybe you want one? Or you're favorite book is resting on one right this very moment. 

They are everywhere and although I have thought about getting one many times, I'm not really sure if I want to commit to it anymore. They are pretty darn cute sometimes. They come in a myriad of colors and they fit into small spaces; which, my house is full of. Yet, I think I may be over it. Reason why? Those little stools don't come cheap. They start at around $40 and only go up. Yesterday, as I was scanning the random good at Costco, I came across this...

for $31.99. At first I jumped at the idea of getting one, but quickly decided I didn't want to join the crowd. I still think they are cutie, but it's just not going to work for me. It even teased me by coming in a lot of different colors: yellow, light blue, dark brown, sage green, and white. Hmmm...any one of those would fit with my decor. Geez, maybe I do want one. 

 

Anyhoo, if you're looking for one of these, check out Costco for the lowest price I've seen around my parts.

Update: We went to Costco last night to pick up a pizza for dinner and they are almost gone (6 left). They had about 50 out the day before. Big ticket item!

Pretty

Images above from

La Dolce Vita

Images above from Oliveaux